As a married man, a father of four daughters and grandfather of three granddaughters, I take threats on the safety of women very seriously, especially when those threats include sexual assault. There are few crimes so heinous, with such a long-lasting, cruel after-effect, as a sexual assault.
As an advocate for a robust criminal justice system, I am of the considered opinion that some crimes demand a harsh response from our systems of justice. Sex crimes are among those, and after conviction, the goblins found guilty should be punished, not by fines, not by counseling, but by jail time. And I would make no exceptions for age. If a boy is old enough to commit the crime, he is old enough to know that assaulting a girl or woman is wrong, and to know that there may well be serious consequences.
Unless, apparently, he is in the United Kingdom, where you can be jailed for an offensive tweet, but not for rape.
Teenage rapists are being let off with £26 fines after being convicted of attacking girls as young as 14.
Rape campaigners reacted with fury yesterday as it emerged that in at least three cases teenage perpetrators have been spared jail and handed rehabilitation orders with financial penalties that are 'less than a parking ticket'.
Fury would necessarily be something of an understatement. This crime is an outrage against the very heart of a community, and should be dealt with accordingly. But now, in the United Kingdom, it looks like this isn't the case. Why?
Harriet Wistrich, head of the Centre for Women's Justice, has called for a review to establish whether lenient sentences are becoming the norm.
It comes after an outcry over a case in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, last week when three teenage boys were given youth rehabilitation orders, and not jailed, following attacks on girls aged 14 and 15.
Note that there's no information on the identities of the three teenage boys. That's not unusual when dealing with minors, although in the United States, if the little goblins are being tried as adults, their identities are generally made public. What would be interesting to know is whether or not the teenage boys are recent imports to the UK, given that such recent imports, especially those from North Africa and the Middle East, have been problematic in recent years. The question may cause some lefties to gasp in alarm, but this is a serious matter, and if the UK intends to deal with it in a serious manner, these are questions that have to be asked and answered.
But look at the actual punishments meted out:
In the latest cases to emerge, teenage boys convicted of rape and serious sexual assault were given fines of £26, as well as rehabilitation orders. The three separate prosecutions took place over the past year in youth courts in the North-East.
In one case, a 14-year-old boy raped a girl aged 16 or over in August 2023, and was also convicted of the sexual assault of a girl aged 15 in February 2023.
Sentenced at Teesside Magistrates' Court on December 4, 2025, he was given a youth rehabilitation order, ordered to pay court costs of £26 and placed on the sex offenders' register for 30 months.
In another prosecution, a boy aged 15 was convicted of a serious sexual assault by penetration of a 14-year-old girl in April 2024.
To call this an outrage is to indulge in the grossest of understatements.
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Now, might this be under some scrutiny already?
He [British Prime Minister Kier Starmer] confirmed that the case has now been referred to the Court of Appeal.
Sir Keir said: "There are questions about the sentence.
"The attorney general has power to refer a case to the Court of Appeal if the attorney general thinks that the sentence is too lenient.
"The attorney general has now exercised that power.
"So I can announce that that case will now go to the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal will now review the sentence in that case, and that is clearly the right outcome."
We can hope, but I think that it's probably too much to expect a sudden reversal and the imposition of severe prison sentences, which is what these crimes so richly deserve.
Britain's former Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women, Jess Phillips, also reacted angrily, and we can scarcely blame her.
Jess Phillips, who resigned as minister for safeguarding and violence against women earlier this month, has said that sentencing guidelines did not take into account a “growing trend” of children sexually abusing other children.
Ms Phillips also warned that crime may have become “content for an eyeball economy”, with serious offences being filmed “in order to make content”.
Her comments come after three teenagers, who cannot be named as they are under 18, were spared jail over the rape of two girls in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, provoking outcry.
Here, though, is where Jess Phillips hits the nail on the head:
“We are essentially asking the girls in Fordingbridge, and now these new cases that have been reported in The Guardian, to essentially suck it up for the sake of the perception of what is best for the perpetrators.
“I think absolutely this all needs looking at.”
It should have been looked at years ago. The UK has probably gone too far down the leftist path to turn back now. Oh, we can hold out some hope in the recent progress of Sir Nigel Farage's Reform UK Party, but how much difference will that make? Will Britain under the Reform UK party conduct mass deportations of the Third World immigrants who are causing so many problems? (Note: We do not know that the teenagers mentioned in these cases are among those immigrant groups.) Will the British justice system inure itself to the inevitable crimes of "racism!" when they order a teenage rapist jailed for a substantial portion of their adult life?
This doesn't seem likely. And remember this; always remember this: The American Left would duplicate these practices and policies here. In a moment. That's why the upcoming midterms are so important. That's why the 2028 elections will be even more important. We are at a turning point, and the next two or three election cycles may well chart the course for our republic for 80-100 years. And if we lose, look to Europe, because that's what the American Left has in store for us.
